Fear Love, Not the Dead
by KelseyKawaiixo
Summary: 19 year old single mother and best friend of Nick Clark, Saffron Addams, had a rough day when she found her parents zombified at home. Saffron's main goal is the protect her two year old son, Troy. She has managed to do it so far, but can she protect him against the undead? Also, will her hidden feelings for Nick begin to show? Read to find out.
1. We're going to see Nick

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p style="line-height: 2em; color: inherit !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; clear: none !important;"When the curtain finally drew, and everything went dark, I was not at all prepared. That was the day the earth began to die. In fact, it happened where I least expected it. Home. The place where I felt most safe became a danger zone. It became a place I wanted to avoid at all costs. It all began on what seemed to be a normal, sunny day in LA. The birds were chirping away, the sun was high in the sky and everyone was laughing and joking. I noticed my best friend Nick had not texted me in a while. I had been growing increasingly worried about him, and decided that after I dropped my stuff at home after class I would pay him a visit. /p  
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p style="line-height: 2em; color: inherit !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; clear: none !important;"So I attended my biology lecture, then met up with my other friend Becca Farrell at the basketball court. Only because she had texted me. She was swooning over her boyfriend Josh, who was captain of the basketball team. He was giving orders to his fellow teammates, and I watched the match begin from afar before approaching her. "Hey Becca" I grinned, sitting beside her on the bleachers. She wrapped a friendly arm around me. "Isn't he beautiful?" She swooned "wait, don't answer that". I laughed and threw her arm off me. I didn't like being touched. She did it to annoy me. Which I didn't mind. "What did you want to talk about, anyway?" I questioned, wrapping my arms around my knees. "How's Nick?" She asked. "I don't know. I was actually going to go check on him" I told her. "Oh, don't let me stop you! I'll just stare at my handsome man. Hey, when are you going to tell him how you feel about him?" She asked me. I shook my head "never. He has a girlfriend, remember?". "No! You have to!" She complained. I stood up, feeling a little annoyed but not showing it. "It'll be fine. I'll move on eventually". With that, I walked away. /p  
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p style="line-height: 2em; color: inherit !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; clear: none !important;"As I walked to my home, I thought about every single hint I'd dropped to Nick. Everytime I punched his arm, everything I complimented his outfit, everytime I called him cute. Nothing ever seemed to get to him. Then when he got with Gloria, I was so heartbroken. I mean, I had tried. I contemplated every scenario. Maybe he had picked up the hints, but didn't like me? Maybe he did like me, but didn't pick up the hints? Every thought swirled around in my head. It was doing that as I walked through my front door, too. "Mom? I'm home!" I called. Silence. I raised an eyebrow, used to my mom rushing into the hallway with her cooking gloves on and whisking me into the kitchen after a kiss on the cheek to my gorgeous dinner. Her car was out front, it wasn't like she had an emergency and had to leave. Besides, I was only gone two and a half hours. /p  
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p style="line-height: 2em; color: inherit !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; clear: none !important;""Mom? Is everything okay?" I called once more, hanging up my coat on the coat rail. Silence. "Dad?" I called then. Suddenly, I heard a crash coming from the basement. I flinched, then my head snapped in the direction of the basement. I slowly approached, afraid someone had gotten in and held my parents captive. According to my aunt in Atlanta, there had been riots breaking out all over America. We hadn't heard from her in a week, even though she usually called every second day. Her and my mom had a very close relationship. I went into the kitchen, to see if anyone was there, tiptoeing quietly. Nothing. My mom's knife was placed on the counter, the dinner was on. There was even some chopped onions left on the chopping board which was placed neatly on the kitchen table. Suddenly, I slipped on something and wacked my head off the side of the counter. I yelped loudly, then groaned in agony. I felt the tears pricking at my eyes, and my vision was blurred. I felt whatever substance I had slipped on on my hands, so I lifted them and tried to squint to see what it was. Blood. I screamed a little, scrambling to my knees. That's when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs from the basement. I picked up a steel knife which was sitting by the chopped onions, and my breathing quickened. I was shaking. The basement door opened, and then I saw them. /p  
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div style="line-height: 2em; color: inherit !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; clear: none !important;"  
p style="line-height: 2em; color: inherit !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; clear: none !important;"My parents. /p  
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p style="line-height: 2em; color: inherit !important; font-family: inherit !important; font-size: inherit !important; clear: none !important;"Completely covered from head to toe in blood. My father had a knife jabbed through his chest, and my mother had her arm hanging off, and a massive chunk missing from her neck. I gasped in horror of the sight. The two people I cared for most – and that's when I remembered my son! I had to help him. "Mom? Dad?" I said. I was well aware they were zombies. I just didn't want to believe it. They were walking towards me slowly now. I knew what I had to do. I screamed, my heart aching for my parents, and drove the knife through my father's skull, then my mother's. Their eyes went back in their heads, before they each toppled to the floor, completely dead. The smell of blood and death hit me then, and I vomited on top of them. "Troy!" I yelled, the knife still clenched in my fist, as I ran from the room and up to his bedroom. My little son Troy lay asleep in his cot bed. I could tell he was alive. He was safe. I shook him gently, and his eyes fluttered open. "Hey baby, we need to leave" I told him "now". "Where are we going?" He asked me, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "We're going to see Nick, okay?" I said, lifting him up and placing him on the ground beside me. "Where's grandma and grandpa?" He asked. I couldn't tell him. No way. "They are gone on holidays, they left a minute ago. Listen, we need to pack as much clothes as possible and leave..okay boo?". He nodded, reaching for his Star Wars backpack which was packed neatly under his bed, and packing away some of his favorite stuffed animals. I went up into the attic and took down two large suitcases. In one, I packed some of my clothes, beauty essentials like make up and deodorant, my toothbrush. I also grabbed my pillow and duvet and brought them to the car. I packed them into my parents car, then returned and packed Troy's clothes. I put him in some pink shorts and a white shirt, and put some white trainers on his feet. He put his toddler backpack on his back. "Follow me, okay?" I told him, holding out my hand. He held onto my hand carefully and we tiptoed downstairs. I strapped him into the car and locked it so I could fill his sippy cup. I found some juice in the fridge. I looked at my parents dead bodies for a brief second, knowing I had to stay strong for Troy. He was only two and a half. So then I left for Nick's house..and hoped for the best../p  
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	2. The Truth

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p class="Paragraph SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"span class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"As soon as I pulled/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" up outside Nick's house, the door swung open to reveal Nick. His mother stood behind him. "Nick!" I yelled, as I hopped out of the car. He pressed his finger to his lips "shush! You need to be quiet". I froze in the car door, and nodded slowly after processing what he had just said. Perhaps one of them was around here. I slammed the car door quietly, and then took Troy from his car seat. Nick came jogging down the driveway, and took Troy from me. His mother, Madison, helped me bring the bags in. On the way in she whispered "where are your folks?". I told her I would explain later. She looked /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"concer/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"ned/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;", and nodded her head slowly. /span/spanspan class="EOP SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" /span/p  
/div  
div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px;"  
p class="Paragraph SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"Once inside, Troy clung onto Nick and began to tell him how his "grandma and grandpa were on holidays". "Really?" Nick smiled at him, then gave me 'the eyes'. "I'll tell you in a moment" I mouthed. He nodded the same way Madison had. "I think Troy needs something to eat" Madison said, breaking the silence that had followed. She took Troy from Nick, and brought him to the kitchen. "I didn't bring any food for him" I told her. She paused in the doorway "that's fine, we'll figure something out" and disappeared into the kitchen. /span/spanspan class="EOP SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" /span/p  
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div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px;"  
p class="Paragraph SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"I flopped onto the couch, burying my head in my hands and began to sob. Nick jumped over the couch, wrapping his arm around me and cuddling me "what happened?". I explained everything. How my father had the knife jabbed through his chest, how my mother was half eaten. He said there was a virus going around, and it was turning people into zombies. He said that his /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"younger sister Alicia didn't understand this, and that her boyfriend was one by now. I told him I wouldn't let on to her that it was a zombie virus. He told me his to-be stepdad Travis had gone to get his ex-wife and son, and he had been gone quite a while. I expressed my sympathy to the family. I loved Travis. He was a very kind man. I hoped he was alright. /span/spanspan class="EOP SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" /span/p  
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p class="Paragraph SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"Alicia came into the room just then, and smiled warmly at me. She flopped down beside us and told us to "g/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"et a room". "Speaking of rooms, you and Troy can bunk with me" Nick said, petting my hair. I smiled kindly at /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"him, and/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" thanked him for this. "No problem" he smiled. "W/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"here are your folks?" Alicia asked, crossing her legs. /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;""They went abroad and I got locked out of my house" I lied. "Oh, God" she said, rolling her eyes "parents". /span/spanspan class="EOP SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" /span/p  
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div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px;"  
p class="Paragraph SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"That night, after I put troy to sleep on the floor in Nick's room and after Alicia was asleep, I told Madison everything. She told me she was so sorry, that everything was turning to shit. I agreed, but told her that my main priority was keeping Troy safe. She gave me a look. As if she knew something. I wasn't sure what, but I just smiled at her and looked up to see Alicia was awake. She trudged sleepily into the sitting room, and sighed "when is Travis coming back?". Everyone was quiet for a moment, before Madison said "soon". She then took out a boardgame, and we began to play until we got bored of it. /span/spanspan class="EOP SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" /span/p  
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div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px;"  
p class="Paragraph SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"Then the power dropped. I was growing increasingly frightened about this situation. Madison approached the window, and told /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"Nick and /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"I/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" that their zombiefied /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"neighbo/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"r/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" was in the yard. Nick told/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" us that the Tran's next door have a shotgun in their home, and we could use it to protect ourselves. He told me to go into his room and take care of Troy. With that, Nick, Madison and /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="SpellingError SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: url(data:image/gif; base64,r0lgodlhbqaeajecap/8aaaaaaaaaach5baeaaaialaaaaaafaaqaaaiilgaxcchrtcgaow==); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: transparent; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat;"Alecia/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" hopped over the fence into the Tran's backyard. /span/spanspan class="EOP SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" /span/p  
/div  
div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px;"  
p class="Paragraph SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"I sat on Nick's bed, and let out a sad sigh. It had been a very rough day. I began to feel guilty. I wasn't exactly the best daughter out there. As a teenager, I was rude to my parents. I was snobby with them. I was a hormonal mess. Not to mention I got pregnant and the father didn't know. I groaned in annoyance at myself for not telling him. Things probably would have been so much easier for me if I had of. That's when I heard footsteps up the hall. "/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="SpellingError SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: url(data:image/gif; base64,r0lgodlhbqaeajecap/8aaaaaaaaaach5baeaaaialaaaaaafaaqaaaiilgaxcchrtcgaow==); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: transparent; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat;"Nick?" /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="SpellingError SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: url(data:image/gif; base64,r0lgodlhbqaeajecap/8aaaaaaaaaach5baeaaaialaaaaaafaaqaaaiilgaxcchrtcgaow==); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: transparent; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat;"I/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" called out. No response. That's when I copped it. It was their zombified /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"neighbor! I was at his bedroom door in a flash, and went to lock the door when I /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"realized/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" there was no key. I began to panic, and root around his room for the key. The footsteps came closer, and that's when a light from a car flashed in the driveway. I found the key and locked the bedroom door, then looked out the window to see who it was outside. It was TRAVIS! He would get hurt If he came inside. I couldn't figure out what to do, though. Everything became a blur, and I sat on the bed..helpless. I couldn't even help him after all the times he welcomed me into his home. I began to cry, and blocked my ears with a pillow in case they were killed. That's when I heard a loud thump on the door. "/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"Saff/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;"! Open up! Are you okay?". I quickly opened the door to see Nick. I jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly "I was so worried!" I exclaimed. He stroked my back with his hand and kissed my head "I'm fine". I was shocked by the way he had kissed me, but as long as he was okay, I was okay too. It's not that I didn't like it, I just didn't ever see it coming. That's when I watched as Madison hugged Travis, and I turned to look at Troy. /span/spanspan class="EOP SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" /span/p  
/div  
div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px;"  
p class="Paragraph SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;""I need to tell you something, /span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="SpellingError SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: url(data:image/gif; base64,r0lgodlhbqaeajecap/8aaaaaaaaaach5baeaaaialaaaaaafaaqaaaiilgaxcchrtcgaow==); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-color: transparent; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat;"Nick" I/span/spanspan class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" began. He smiled down at me, his eyes glistening as he did so. I pulled him by the hand into his bedroom and asked him "who do you think he looks like?". Nick chuckled "I have no idea, actually. You never told me who his father was". I sighed "Nick?". His eyes fell on me. That's when I told him the truth. /span/spanspan class="EOP SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" /span/p  
/div  
div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; overflow: visible; cursor: text; clear: both; position: relative; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px;"  
p class="Paragraph SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="TextRun SCX56534833" lang="EN-US" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;" xml:lang="EN-US"span class="NormalTextRun SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: inherit; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important;""You're his father". /span/spanspan class="EOP SCX56534833" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-user-select: text; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; white-space: normal; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" /span/p  
/div 


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